Sunday, January 14, 2007

Sub-hour half marathon


The first one in the USA. Run today by 24-year-old Ryan Hall in Houston. 59:43 at the finish line after 13.1 miles on the road.

Bravo!

I can't even imagine. I'd be delighted to run a 2-hour half marathon some day. Actually, I'd be delighted to go under 2:30 in March. We'll see. Heck, I feel pretty darned good when I can cover five miles in under an hour.



Update: Correction - that may be the first by an American citizen (?) Here's a list of 41 sub-hour half marathon performances prior to this. Thanks for setting things straight, Comm!

11 comments:

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

Yeah, I was pretty excited about that, too. We're also trying to attract an elite marathon field that will get us a sub-2:10 finisher, and we came close today.

I'm so glad to see my hometown marathon getting a little notice. People just don't get excited over Houston or anything that happens here, for some reason.

Charles said...

Someday I hope to do a sub hour 10k. That day will not be soon :-)

Vickie said...

That is pretty amazing. And I'm with you there on the 5 mile rule. Actually, that is my next running goal.

Spokane Al said...

He averaged 4:30 per mile. That is amazing and an unbelievable pace. He is very young too. Who knows what he can do when he reaches his prime.

Julia said...

There had to be a pretty nice tail wind...or a downhill portion since almost every single one of the elite runners ran a PB.

Nancy Toby said...

I was curious and looked at the course - it seems to be pancake flat and nearly a loop course.

http://www.chevronhoustonmarathon.com/Aramco_Half_Marathon/halfcourse1a0b.htm

Temps were 45-60*F (7-15*C) with very high humidity.

Nancy Toby said...

And winds were 8-16mph with gusts to 23 mph from the WSW, which would have been a tailwind for the final 3 miles.

TriGirl 40 said...

Wow - what an amazing accomplishment. Thanks for sharing. And looking forward to hearing more about your 5K training progress (and all the other "5" goals) this year.

IronWaddler said...

Unbelievable. I would just be between the 4-5 mile mark.

Comm's said...

The first one this year for a sub 1hr 1/2 but not the world record which was set last year at PF Chang in 58 minutes by Halle G.

Nancy Toby said...

Here's what I could find from the USATF:

http://www.usatf.org/statistics/records/view.asp?division=american&location=road&age=open&sport=LDR

It says the previous US record was 1:00:55 in 1985. Not updated??